[Astro-Baby]

Some time back in a moment of madness I bought a Chinon CE5. Its a great little box of tricks.

Vertical travel Seiko electronic shutter, speeds to 2000 of a second, good, bright, full information viewfinder that works a lot better than many of the major players from the same period and auto mode with aperture priority. DOF is amongst the best positioning I have ever used and is very positive and the wind on is smooth as silk......it actually feels better than a Minolta XD7 which is often raved over as the smoothest wind on ever. On top of that Chinon made most of their stuff in 42mm thread or Pentax K so there is not shortage of glass to bolt on them.

The only thing that lets it down is the plastic case, though its metal underneath but its no more or less plasticky than a Canon AE1 or a Minolta X x00 series from the same period.

Despite all this (and the fact it came close to being the worlds first AF....if you could ever find the AF lenses that went with it) it features nowhere as a camera of note and prices of secondhand ones are far lower than any equivalent which I find strange as it would give almost anything else I have a run for its money on ease of use and reliability.

In the UK Chinon suffered I suspect from being tied closely with Dixons who were a notorious budget electronics shop who tended to sell tat. I never even gave Chinon a second glance because anything from Dixons was always suspect. Knock off and dud cheap products from second raters but recent exposure to some of Chinons cameras shows them to be well engineered and solidly made and very usable.

The two Chinons I have are noticeably better made than a lot of stuff from the period and both came fully running with nothing needing except light seals, by comparison everything else I have has had various issues ranging from shutter speed drifting, light meters inoperative and general issues related to age. The Chinons seem to have used far better construction and better overall sealing and lubricants so why do these fetch such low prices .......is it just cache, snob value or is it their association with people like Dixons still a pall over them ?

[pepperberry farm]

I read somewhere that Chinon suffered the Kodak hammer - Kodak bought into the company and when they had a controlling interest, they closed the doors and dismantled it...

[Lord Lucan]

Chinon suffered I suspect from being tied closely with Dixons who were a notorious budget electronics shop who tended to sell tat.

We used to call Dixons "Men's toy shops"!